Temporary Work Visas Overview

Temporary worker visa is issued for persons who want to enter United States for employment lasting a fixed period of time that is not considered permanent or indefinite. According to The U.S. Department of Homeland Security during 2012 there were 165 million non-immigrant admissions to the United States. 1,900,582 of these admissions were temporary worker visas. There are a lot of different classifications of temporary worker visas. The CNMI allows employers in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to apply for temporary permission to work under other non-immigrant worker categories. The E visas are issued for nationals of a treaty to be admitted to U.S. to work temporary. They include E-1 (treaty traders and qualified employees), E-2 (treaty investors and qualified employees), E-2C (long term foreign investors in the CNMI) and E-3 (professionals from Australia). The H type of visas grant temporary, specific, prearranged employment to a foreign national in the U.S. H-1B visas are issued for individuals who work in a specialty occupation; H-1B1 is for Chile and Singapore, H-1B2 is for specialty workers for the U.S. Department of Defense, H-1B3 if issued for fashion models. For temporary or seasonal agricultural workers is H-2A visa and H-2B is for non-agricultural workers. The H-3 type of visa is meant for trainers. The L-1 non-immigrant classification enables a U.S. employer to transfer an executive or manager from one of its affiliated foreign offices in the United States; L-1A is meant for intra-company transferees in managerial or executive positions and L-1B is issued for intra-company transferees in positions utilizing specialized knowledge. For the persons with extraordinary abilities in sciences, arts, education, business, athletics or TV production there is the O-visa. Another category of temporary workers visa is P-visa category. This visa is issued for non-immigrants that will be coming to the United States to perform in athletics or entertainment. P-1 is for internationally recognized athletes; P-2 is meant for individual performers of a part of a group entering to perform under a reciprocal exchange program. If you are an artist or an entertainer you will need a P-3 visa. Q-1 visas are issued for the persons who participate in an international cultural exchange program for the purpose of providing practical training, employment and sharing the history, culture and traditions of the alien's country. If you are a religious worker you will have to apply for a R-1 visa. TN visa, allows non-immigrant NAFTA professionals from Canada and Mexico to seek temporary entry into the U.S. to engage in business activities at a professional level. Your next step will be gathering documents, so please make sure you watch our separate video on that topic. If you seek legal help and advise, don't hesitate to come to Legal Bistro and find the right lawyer for you.